H got onto the journal she wanted!! They called a day late (two days late, actually, i guess) but she's in! Bit of a rare honor for a first-yearer!

Walked N downtown. On the former railroad tracks. Apparently no one has walked the stretch from Whitney to the train station in a while. Not all winter anyway. Lots of fallen trees to climb through, thornbushes encroaching, and the soggy area under the bridge appears to be more like a foot or two of water, which at unevenly frozen was quite interesting to walk over. Rusty broke through but fortunately was able to back up.

Recipes of Udupi South Indian Vegetarian Cuisine's frozen Onion Rava Masala Dasa ("Rava Style Onion with Crepes, Stuffed With Flavorful Potatoes & Onions") with Chutney is quite good, and can be bought at the Natick Indian Grocery store on route 9 just beyond the Oak Street crossing (towards Wellesley).

It's very strange the way it's being done. In the middle of the summer, rather than in the spring (when the train stopped running), so I rather doubt we're going to see a bike path on it this year. Also, the rails have been pulled from the ties (and some railroad ties dislodged from the ground), and put on the side. What's the point?

I still wish it had become a commuter rail plus freight, with a bike lane beside it-- or better yet make room for pedestrians and bicycles on the roads.

Somewhere in the army labs, in the vicinity of the baseball diamond I assume, there's been a lot of people making news– it sounded like a huge crowd this morning, and now a smaller group doing karaoke. Loudly and fairly enthusiastically, if not too well.